Counter Cartographies: Living the Land

On view Oct. 8, 2021 — Sept. 5, 2022

Counter Cartographies: Living the Land presents contemporary artworks that examine our relationship to land, proposing alternative ways of thinking about and experiencing the landscape around us. Artists draw attention to the way culture, identity, emotion, ancestry, displacement, power and colonization shape and inform our understanding of land. 

Counter Cartographies expands conventional understandings of cartography (mapping), moving beyond two-dimensional Western-style maps. The artists in this exhibition present forms of mapping that are impermanent or experiential through artworks featuring elements of storytelling, dance and sound. Many of the works challenge existing power structures and invite us to consider how language, memory, and culture shape the way we relate to the land around us. They articulate global challenges, from climate change to geopolitical conflict, and encourage us to imagine more resilient futures. 

This yearlong exhibition is presented through diverse voices and formats, and includes in-museum and outdoor installations, film, artist residencies, and public programming. 

We're gathering cultural, historical, and emotionally affecting stories and images not typically included on maps or in guidebooks. Submit a personally meaningful Anchorage landmark to our community archive project by clicking on the link at the top left of this page.

Social activism inspires the artists included in the exhibition, many of whom work in sculpture, large-scale installation and performance. Among them are multidisciplinary artist Christina Seely, who addresses complexities of both built and natural global systems, and Grammy-nominated artist and musician Stuart Hyatt, whose projects transform field audio recordings into musical works.